The central ward councillor has said Bristol University and the University of the West of England (UWE), need to consider their wider responsibility to the city and curb their planned student number increases otherwise Bristol will become an unaffordable city to live in.

He said: “We have huge housing demand in Bristol and new student housing is just facilitating the growth in student numbers which takes away from the existing housing.”

Both universities said they are working with Bristol City Council and claim that students bring more than £250million to the city each year and support up to 4,000 jobs.

Paul Smith, Bristol City Council cabinet member for housing

The problem

Bristol’s housing market has been on the up for more than a decade, with many previously low-cost areas benefiting or suffering from gentrification - depending on your point of view.

This city-wide boom is the result of many concentric factors, of which Bristol’s student population is one.

While economists agree students bring numerous financial benefits to the city, there is the creeping sensation that many of Bristol’s most recognisable buildings are being turned over to student housing developments alongside the hidden conversion of former family homes in to student lets.

With space for 715 bedrooms or ‘units’, the former BRI building is the latest and largest site going through the planning process to be turned into student accommodation.

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The plans have prompted outrage from councillors and residents from across the city and as far away as Australia. And with plans in the pipeline for a large accommodation block in the new enterprise zone and for Brunel House, the situations looks set to become increasingly acute.

Mr Smith said: “The BRI proposal is for 715 units, most of those will be first year students and in the second and third years they will want to live out in the rest of Bristol.

“So over three years that processes 1,400 people living out in the rest of Bristol which if they are living in houses of four or five students that is somewhere between 300 and 350 existing houses which aren’t student houses having to become student housing to soak up that demand.”

Has Bristol got too much student housing?

And far from remaining static, both universities in the city want to increase their student populations by several thousand each year.

Mr Smith said: “What’s happening is that the increase in student numbers is one of the factors in driving up house prices and private rents.

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“Every time student numbers grow - and the University of Bristol wants to grow its numbers quite dramatically, while UWE is looking more moderately - that puts more pressure on the housing stock in Bristol.

“We are now in the position that about ten per cent of people in the city during term time are students. And it is having a huge impact on the housing market in the city.”

Student council tax rebates cost Bristol City Council around £9.5million a year and it is estimated that up to 250 family homes a year are converted into student homes.

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Moreover there is a social cost to student housing, with pockets of communities eroded by term-time housing. Mr Smith has said there are some parts of Bristol “where there are no families any more, there are whole streets where it is just student housing”.

However, the housing lead was clear that the council is not ‘anti-student’.

He said: “In terms of the issue, it isn’t about being anti-student, it is about getting the balance right – both at a community level and across the city as a whole. The universities bring a lot to Bristol economy, a lot of students stay here and set up businesses, they bring a lot of intellectual capital to the city, so there is a whole range of positive benefits and there has been a lot of work done as to what those benefits are.

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“But what there hasn’t been a lot of work on is the negative effects and how we mitigate that. And it isn’t just about providing tiny little flats for students to stay in in their first year.”

A mix of multicoloured houses in Bristol, on the banks of the floating harbour

The solution

For Mr Smith the issue must be approached in two stages - working both with the universities and the developers.

Firstly the housing lead would like the universities to sit down with the council to discuss its social responsibility to the city, its students and its workers. Ideally Mr Smith would like to see the universities slow their student population growth down and do more to provide affordable housing for those who work for the institutes.

He said: “What I would prefer to see is the universities actually having a pause in its growth plans to work with the council to look at how their growth can be mitigated.

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“If the student numbers were static and new student accommodation was being build that would ease the pressure on Bristol’s housing stock because you could see students coming out of standard housing and going into the specialist. But actually all it is doing is fuelling and facilitating the growth in student numbers.”

Mr Smith believes the second stage is to talk with developers about how they can help support communities through student accommodation.

He said: “We have been putting a lot of pressure on developers to give more over to affordable housing as part of their developments. For some that is working, but other developers are saying well, if you are going to ask us to do affordable we will do student housing instead because we don’t have to put any aside for affordable.”

Before the general election Bristol City Council had started to lobby government to change the legal framework and contributions around student homes.

The authority would like to see a mandatory affordable housing contribution for sites of 15 bedrooms or larger.

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“As a developer there is two ways in which they can contribute to affordable housing,” said Mr Smith.

“One is to have it within a project, which is our preferred option, and the other is through what is called a commuted sub, i.e. money that we can spend on providing affordable housing somewhere else.”

Has Bristol got too much student housing? Councillor says it is contributing to city’s problems

Will it work?

Mr Smith is optimistic that agreements will be made and change brought about across student housing planning.

He said: “I think they [the universities] are beginning to understand that growth does cause a problem as well as a benefit, I think they are seeing that maybe they do need to have a wider housing offer and they do need to look at key worker accommodation.

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“One of the things the Mayor is working on at the moment is this idea of inclusive growth in the city and developing a city plan and part of that is engaging with the universities and other key players within the city and saying this isn’t just an issue for Bristol City Council, it is something that we all have to be engaged with.”

The housing lead is also planning on raising the issue of student housing at a council meeting later this month.

File Images of UWE Fenchay Campus.

Reaction from the universities

In response to Mr Smith’s comments a spokesperson for UWE said: “Over the past three years we have invested in the creation of 1,000 bed spaces on campus and have no current plans to expand provision. However, we are proactively working with Bristol City Council to explore potential future requirements for student accommodation in Bristol.

“Our students bring many valuable benefits to communities across Bristol, from offering their services as volunteers to caring for the environment and helping sustain local shops and services. In 2014-15 UWE Bristol students are estimated to have contributed £205.7 million in subsistence spending, fuelling economic growth and supporting 3,340 jobs in the city-region.”

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A spokesman for the University of Bristol said: “Our aspiration is to gradually grow student numbers by about 25 per cent over the next seven years to coincide with the creation of a second campus by Bristol Temple Meads.

"This expansion is being carefully planned for, including the building of student accommodation on the new campus and working alongside private student accommodation providers to ensure we can meet demand without putting undue strain on the rental sector.

Bristol University

“Both universities are already engaging with Bristol City Council in a wide-ranging consultation exercise to develop a joint residential strategy, which will maximise the benefits of increased student numbers while minimising any adverse impact on the city.

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“Students bring a huge amount of benefits to Bristol: spending over £250 million a year on local services, which in turn supports over 4,000 additional jobs. During their time at university, many will volunteer in the local community and raise money for charity, not to mention the significant role they play in making Bristol such a vibrant and creative city.

"Many students stay in the area after graduating, building businesses of their own or bringing their skills to bear in the local workforce, including becoming teachers, social workers or doctors.”